Article takeout container

ABSTRACT

An article takeout container for discharging articles, e.g. cakes, stored while being stacked sequentially by means of a rotary member in which a part of the rotary member serves as a cover for closing a discharge port and preventing intrusion of dirt or dust into the container. The article takeout container ( 1 ) includes an article containing section ( 7 ) and an article takeout section ( 5 ), wherein the article containing section ( 7 ) can store a plurality of stacked articles. Means for urging one end of a stacked article ( 3 ) toward the other end thereof is also provided and the article takeout section ( 5 ) comprises a rotary member ( 11 ) for pushing out the article ( 3 ), and a port ( 13 ) for discharging an article thus pushed out, wherein a member abutting against the back part of the stacked article and pushing out the article is provided on the outer circumferential surface of the rotary member ( 11 ). The pushing member is arranged to push out the article and closing the discharge port ( 13 ) with the pressing face ( 25 ) thereof.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to an article takeout container in which articles such as solid sweets stored therein in a stacked state can be taken out sequentially from one end thereof.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] Conventionally, containers for accommodating sweets liked by children, such as tablet chewing gums or tablet solid sweets, have been known.

[0003] Examples of such known containers include a tablet dispenser (JP 07-114793 B) and a tablet-like chewing gum dispenser (JP 2000-025854 A), in which solid sweets, such as tablet-like chewing gums or tablets, stored therein can be taken out one by one.

[0004] Such a sweet dispenser has a containing section formed as a vertical box-like tube and having therein a movable bottom plate on which articles such as tablet-like chewing gums or tablets are stacked together, and is equipped with a mechanism for pushing up the movable bottom plate by a spring member. Further, a hook mechanism operationally connected with an ornamental member in a form of the head of a doll pushes the uppermost one of the stacked articles outwardly, causing it to partly stick out of an opening provided in the head of the doll.

[0005] However, in the conventional tablet dispenser (JP 07-114793 B) and tablet-like chewing gum dispenser (JP 2000-025854 A), described above, the uppermost one of the articles is not discharged completely. It is necessary to cause a part of the article to pop out of the dispenser, and to pull it out by hand.

[0006] Further, the conventional dispenser has a rather complicated structure in which an outlet communicating with the interior of the containing section is covered with an elongated plate provided separately. Thus, after the article is taken out, an extra operation of closing the cover is required.

[0007] Further, in the conventional dispenser, the containing section and the takeout section are formed individually, and the takeout section is mounted to the containing section. Thus, there is a gap between the containing section and the takeout section, and dirt or dust is allowed to enter through this gap to adhere to the articles.

[0008] The present invention has been made in view of the above problems in the prior art. It is an object of the present invention to provide an article takeout container which completely discharges articles stacked together and stored therein one by one by means of a rotary member and in which a member constituting a part of the rotary member and serving to push out the articles closes the discharge port to thereby prevent intrusion of dirt and dust into the container.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

[0009] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, an article takeout container according to a first aspect of the present invention is characterized by having the following features. That is,

[0010] (a) the article takeout container has an article containing section and an article takeout section;

[0011] (b) the article containing section is capable of containing a plurality of stacked articles and has urging means which is in contact with one end of the plurality of stacked articles and adapted to urge them in a direction toward the other end;

[0012] (c) the article takeout section includes a rotary member for pushing out an article located at the other end of the plurality of stacked articles and a discharge port for discharging the article being pushed out; and

[0013] (d) an outer peripheral surface of the rotary member is equipped with a pushing member which is brought into contact with a back surface of the article located at the other end of the plurality of stacked articles to forwardly push out the article, the pushing member having a pressing face adapted to push out the article and capable of closing the discharge port from the inside.

[0014] Also, an article takeout container according to a second aspect of the present invention is characterized by having the following features. That is, the invention according to the first aspect, wherein;

[0015] (a) the rotary member is equipped with an operating member for rotating the rotary member; and

[0016] (b) the operating member is an ornamental member, such as a doll member.

[0017] Also, an article takeout container according to a third aspect of the present invention is characterized by having the following features. That is, the invention according to the first or second aspect, wherein;

[0018] a surface of the urging means which is held in contact with the plurality of stacked articles has an inclined surface inclined downwardly from a discharge port side toward a rear side.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an article takeout container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of an article takeout container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0021]FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing how an article is taken out of an article takeout container according to an embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0022] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0023]FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of an article takeout container 1 according to the present invention; FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of the article takeout container 1 of the present invention; and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing how an article consisting of a solid sweet is taken out of the article takeout container 1 of the present invention.

[0024] In FIGS. 1 and 2, reference numeral 3 indicates articles consisting of disc-like solid sweets or the like having a diameter of approximately 1.5 cm and a thickness of approximately 0.4 cm, reference numeral 5 indicates an article takeout section for taking out the articles 3, and reference numeral 7 indicates an article containing section for containing the articles 3 vertically stacked together.

[0025] The article takeout section 5 is a hollow member provided on top of the containing section 7. The article take out section 5 contains a rotatably supported rotary member 11, and has in the front surface thereof a discharge port 13. Further, above the discharge port 13, there is provided a lever hole 15, which is a vertically elongated hole.

[0026] The article takeout section 5 is formed of a synthetic resin that is harmless to the human body, such as polypropylene or polyethylene. In this embodiment, a left-hand container 9 a and a right-hand container 9 b are formed individually, and the left-hand container 9 a and the right-hand container 9 b are joined together to form the article takeout section 5.

[0027] As stated above, the article takeout section 5 has the rotary member 11 adapted to rotate therein, and the left-hand container 9 a and the right-hand container 9 b, forming the article takeout section 5, are respectively equipped with axle members for rotatably supporting the rotary member 11.

[0028] That is, in its portion where the rotary member 11 is accommodated, the left-hand container 9 a has a cylindrical outer shaft 17 having a joint hole 19. Further, engagement holes 21 are provided in a part of the periphery of the outer shaft 17.

[0029] Further, the right-hand container 9 b is equipped with an inner shaft 23 to be inserted into the joint hole 19 of the outer shaft 17 for connection. This inner shaft 23 has at its center a horizontal notch, whereby it is divided into an upper portion 23 a and a lower portion 23 b having engagement claws 24 to be engaged with the engagement holes 21 of the outer shaft 17.

[0030] By joining together the left-hand container 9 a and the right-hand container 9 b, the inner shaft 23 is inserted into the joint hole 19 of the outer shaft 17. As stated above, the inner shaft 23 is divided into the upper portion 23 a and the lower portion 23 b, which are adapted to be inwardly deflected so as to allow the inner shaft to be inserted without being obstructed by the engagement claws 24. The engagement claws 24 engage the engagement holes 21 of the outer shaft 17 from within to thereby fix the inner shaft 23 to the outer shaft 17.

[0031] When the left-hand container 9 a and the right-hand container 9 b are thus joined together, there are formed in the front surface thereof a discharge port 13 having an opening area that is large enough to allow a single article 13 to pass therethrough, and a lever hole 15 in the form of an elongated hole which allows rotation of the rotary member 11 as described in detail below and through which a lever protrusion 29 for regulating the rotation range of the rotary member sticks out.

[0032] In this embodiment, the rotary member 11 is a cylindrical member having a pushing member protruding from the outer peripheral surface thereof and a horizontally elongated pressing face 25 for pushing out the articles 3. The pressing face 25 not only pushes out the articles 3 but also serves as a cover for closing the discharge port 13 from within after pushing out the article 3.

[0033] Further, the rotary member 11 is equipped with an insertion hole 27 which has an opening on either side and into which the outer shaft 17 provided in the takeout section container 9 (9 a, 9 b) is rotatably fitted.

[0034] The lever protrusion 29, which is in the form of a substantially columnar protrusion, is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the rotary member 11. As stated above, the lever protrusion 29 is used to rotate the rotary member 11.

[0035] That is, when the lever protrusion 29 is at the upper end of the lever hole 15, the pressing face 25 of the rotary member 11 is positioned so as to cover the discharge port 13. When the lever protrusion 29 is rotated from above toward the lower end of the lever hole 15, the rotary member 11 is also rotated in the same direction. In this way, by rotating the lever protrusion 29 by approximately 90 degrees from the upper position to the front side, the pressing face 25 of the rotary member 11 can be rotated backwards by approximately 90 degrees from the position where it faces the discharge port 13. Conversely, when the lever protrusion 29 is rotated to its former position, the rotary member 11 is rotated, and the pressing face 25, which has been at its rear position, is moved forwards again, pushing out an article and closing the discharge port 13 as described below.

[0036] An operating member 31 is mounted to the lever protrusion 29, and serves as an operating rod for moving the lever protrusion 29. Further, by forming the operating member 31 as a model of an animal, an animation character or the like, the operating member 31 also serves as an ornamental member.

[0037] Further, by making this operating member 31 detachable with respect to the lever protrusion 29, it can be replaced by a desired model.

[0038] Next, the article containing section 7 will be described. The article containing section 7 is provided under the article takeout section 5 so as to be integral therewith, and is composed of a containing frame 33 for containing the articles 3 vertically stacked together, and a cover member 35 containing the containing frame 33.

[0039] In this embodiment, the containing frame 33 is a bottomed member with a U-shaped sectional configuration with its front side open. Further, the containing frame 33 is formed by connecting together a right-hand frame 33 a and the a left-hand frame 33 b, the connection being effected by an engagement hole 37 a provided at the bottom of the right-hand frame 33 a and an engagement claw 37 b provided at the bottom of the left-hand frame 33 b.

[0040] Slidably provided inside the containing frame 33 is a push-up member 39 for urging the articles 3 toward the side where the article takeout section 5 is provided. The push-up member 39 is a box-like member with its lower side open, and has an upper surface 41 which is slightly inclined from the front side (the discharge port 13 side) toward the rear side. Due to this inclination, the pressing face 25 of the rotary member 11 is prevented from being caught by the push-up member 39, and it is possible to push out the contained articles reliably to the last one.

[0041] Further, the push-up member 31 is urged upwards from below by a spring member 47 described below. In this condition, when an article is to be supplied, the cover member 35 is pulled downwards, and the push-up member 31 is pulled downwards, with a guide protrusion 43 formed thereon being caught by an end of a guide groove 49 formed in the cover member 35. In this process, the push-up member 31, urged by the spring member 47, is biased so as to rotate using the guide protrusion as the fulcrum, and its rear portion is raised within the containing frame 33. In this embodiment, however, due to the configuration in which the upper surface of the push-up member 33 is inclined toward the rear side, the member is prevented from being inclined toward the opening side even when its rear portion is raised as described above.

[0042] Substantially at the center of the front surface of the push-up member 39, there is provided the above-mentioned engagement protrusion 43 for locking the cover member 35. On either side of this guide protrusion 43, there is provided a slit 45 cut upwards from below, the slits 45 imparting elasticity to the guide protrusion 43 portion. This arrangement is adopted for the purpose of preventing the guide protrusion 43 constituting an obstacle when the cover 35 is attached so as to cover the containing frame 33.

[0043] Provided inside the containing frame 33 is the spring member 47 for urging from below the push-up member 39 contained therein as described above. In this embodiment, this spring member 47 consists of a spiral coil spring, one end of which is in contact with the bottom of the containing frame 33 and the other end of which is in contact with the bottom of the push-up member 39. By urging the push-up member 39, it urges the articles 3 upwards from below.

[0044] Further, the containing frame 33 is contained in the cover member 35, which covers the entire containing frame 33 and which is slidable in the longitudinal direction of the containing frame 33. In this embodiment, this cover member 35 is formed of synthetic resin or the like as an integral cylinder with its upper and lower ends open.

[0045] The cover member 35 has substantially at the center of its front surface a longitudinal protrusion, in which there is provided the guide groove 49 with the upper end thereof closed. When the push-up member 39 has been raised to a predetermined position in the upper portion of the cover member 35, this guide groove 49 locks the guide protrusion 43 so as to prevent further upward sliding of the push-up member. Further, when the articles 3 are put in the containing frame 33, pulling the cover member 35 downwards results in the guide protrusion 43 of the push-up member 39 being caught by the upper end of the guide groove 49 to cause the push-up member 39 to move downwards following the downward movement of the cover member 35. Further, when the cover member 35 is pulled downwards, the opening of the containing frame 33 is exposed, which means pulling the push-up member 39 downwards makes it possible to put the articles 3 in the containing frame. In this way, the cover 35 accommodates the containing frame 33 and, at the same time, serves as the cover for closing the opening of the containing frame 33 containing the articles 3.

[0046] Next, the way the articles (solid sweets) 3 contained in the article takeout container 1, constructed as described above, are taken out one by one will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0047] As shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 3(a), in the normal article containing state of the article takeout container 1, the lever protrusion 29 and the operating member 31 provided on the rotary member 11 are situated on top of the article takeout container 1.

[0048] In this condition, the pressing face 25 of the rotary member 11 covers from within the discharge port 13 provided in the article takeout container 1, thus serving as a cover to prevent intrusion of dirt and dust into the article takeout container 1.

[0049] When one of the articles 3 is to be taken out of this article takeout container 1, the operating member 31 is first rotated forwards from above. Then, with the movement of the operating member 31, the pressing face 25 of the rotary member 11 moves backwards while being in contact with the upper surface of the article 3, with the result that the discharge port 13 is brought into an open state (See FIG. 2(b)).

[0050] Further, when the pressing face 25 moves rearwards, the pressing face 25 is brought into a state in which it can come into contact with the back surface of the article 3, and the article 3 is urged from below by the push-up member 39 to rise until it abuts the peripheral surface of the rotary member 11, and is arranged at a position opposed to the discharge port 13.

[0051] Next, the operating member 31 is rotated upwards from the front side. Then, with the movement of the operating member 31, the pressing face 25 of the rotary member 11 moves toward the discharge port 13 while pushing forward the rear side portion (back surface) of the article 3.

[0052] With this movement of the pressing face 25, the article 3 is gradually discharged through the discharge port 13. When the article 3 has been completely discharged, the pressing face 25 functions as a cover closing from within the discharge port 13 provided in the article takeout container 1. In this condition, the next article 3 to be discharged is urged upwards together with the push-up member 39 and pressed against the rotary member 11 by the spring member 47.

[0053] In this way, in the article takeout container 1 of the present invention, it is possible to take out one by one the articles 3 stacked together and contained in the article takeout section 7.

[0054] While in the above-described embodiment, when the articles 3 are to be put in the article containing section 7, the cover member 35 is pulled downwards to allow the articles to be put in from the front side, it is also possible to put the articles from the back side. Further, it is also possible to put in the articles from below. There are no particular limitations regarding the construction of the article containing section as long as it is possible to stack together the articles 3 in an orderly fashion in the article containing section 7 and to urge them from below.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0055] As described above, the present invention provides a technique applicable to an article container, and has the following advantages.

[0056] That is, according to the invention as claimed in claim 1, the rotary member, which pushes out each article to discharge it completely, closes the discharge port, thus serving as a cover. Therefore, intrusion of dirt and dust is prevented, which is advantageous from the hygienic point of view. Further, there is no need to separately provide a cover for closing the discharge port, nor is it necessary to provide a mechanism for operating such a cover, thus realizing a simplified structure which is not subject to breakage and which does not take a lot of production man-hours.

[0057] Further, according to the invention as claimed in claim 2, the operating member also serving as an ornament is mounted to the lever protrusion, whereby the mounting of the operating member is facilitated. Further, since the operating member itself is not equipped with an article takeout mechanism or the like, it is easy to prepare the operating member in the form of some other character. Thus, it is advantageously easy to change the operating member according to use.

[0058] Further, according to the invention as claimed in claim 3, the upper surface of the article push-up member is formed as a surface inclined downwardly toward the rear side, whereby it is possible to prevent the pressing face of the rotary member from being caught by the push-up member.

[0059] Further, the push-up member, which is biased so as to rotate using its protrusion as the fulcrum due to the urging force of the spring member, can be advantageously prevented from being inclined downwardly as it moves toward the opening side.

[0060] [Description of Symbols]

[0061]1 . . . article takeout container 3 . . . article 5 . . . article takeout section 7 . . . article containing section 9 . . . takeout section container 9 a . . . right-hand container 9 b . . . left-hand container 11 . . . rotary member 13 . . . discharge port 15 . . . lever hole 17 . . . outer shaft 19 . . . joint hole 21 . . . engagement hole 23 . . . inner shaft 23 a . . . upper portion 23 b . . . lower portion 24 . . . engagement claw 25 . . . pressing face 27 . . . insertion hole 29 . . . lever protrusion 31 . . . operating member 33 . . . containing frame 33 a . . . right-hand frame 33 b . . . left-hand frame 35 . . . cover member 37 a . . . engagement hole 37 b . . . engagement claw 39 . . . push-up member 41 . . . upper surface 43 . . . guide protrusion 45 . . . slit 47 . . . spring member 49 . . . guide groove 

1. An article takeout container characterized by comprising the following features: (a) the article takeout container has an article containing section and an article takeout section; (b) the article containing section is capable of containing a plurality of stacked articles and has urging means which is in contact with one end of the plurality of stacked articles and adapted to urge them in a direction toward the other end; (c) the article takeout section includes a rotary member for pushing out an article located at the other end of the plurality of stacked articles and a discharge port for discharging the article being pushed out; and (d) an outer peripheral surface of the rotary member is equipped with a pushing member which is brought into contact with a back surface of the article located at the other end of the plurality of stacked articles to forwardly push out the article, the pushing member having a pressing face adapted to push out the article and capable of closing the discharge port from the inside.
 2. An article takeout container according to claim 1, characterized by comprising the following features: (a) the rotary member is equipped with an operating member for rotating the rotary member; and (b) the operating member is an ornamental member, such as a doll member.
 3. An article takeout container according to one of claims 1 and 2, characterized by comprising the following feature: a surface of the urging means which is held in contact with the plurality of stacked articles has an inclined surface inclined downwardly from a discharge port side toward a back side. 